University Press Releases

Monday, Feb. 28, 2011

SANTA CLARA, Calif. Feb. 28, 2011—Santa Clara University’s Civil Engineering Associate Professor Edwin Maurer will join a world class team of scientists and educators at Google headquarters this summer to develop ways to communicate the science of climate change more effectively. Google selected Maurer to be one of the 21 Google Science Communication Fellows because of his extensive research on the impact of climate change on water resources.

Maurer joined Santa Clara University in 2003 and teaches courses including hydraulics, hydrology, and sustainable water resources development. He first studied climate change and sea level rise and impacts on the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. During the past decade, most of his research has focused on translating global climate model output to local and regional scales, where Maurer assesses projected impacts on water resources. He also contributed dozens of projections of global climate change for a Web-based tool called Climate Wizard that provides the general public with simple analyses and innovative graphics that convey how climate has and is projected to change within specific geographic areas around the world.

In June, Maurer and the 20 other fellows will head to Google’s campus in Mountain View, Calif. for a workshop, which will integrate hands-on training and brainstorming on topics of technology and science communication.

“I’m looking forward to meeting and working with such an interesting and diverse group of scientists to refine our skills for communicating the science related to climate change and its impacts in our classrooms and in our communities.” says Maurer.

Following the workshop, fellows will be given the opportunity to apply for grants to put their ideas into practice. Those with the most impactful projects will be given the opportunity to join a Linblad Expeditions & National Geographic trip to the Arctic, the Galapagos, or Antarctica as a science communicator. More information about the program can be found on Google’s blog.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California’s oldest operating institution of higher education. For more information, see www.scu.edu.